Chuck Yeager still has the right stuff

Yeager's fearlessness has inspired countless pilots and aviation buffs. He agreed to speak with USA TODAY to draw attention to his foundation, which supports a scholarship program at Marshall University as well as the Young Eagles, a non-profit program chaired by hero pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger that gets kids airborne (Yeager is chairman emeritus).

Capt. Charles E. Yeager, who epitomized the hotshot fly-boys of the postwar era, broke the sound barrier, forever changing the face of aviation. He's shown next to the Air Force's Bell-built X-1 supersonic research aircraft after he became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound in level flight on Oct. 14, 1947.

This NASA photo shows the experimental rocket-powered Bell X-1 aircraft piloted by Air Force Capt. Charles E. Yeager dropping from a mother ship on Oct. 14, 1947. Soaring at an altitude of 45,000 feet, he reached the speed of sound. The significance of the flight was enormous: Supersonic speed, Yeager told AFP, allowed the U.S. military to fly "faster than the enemy," but just as important, he said, it opened up space: "Star Wars, satellites," he said.

Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner made history on Oct. 14, 2012, jumping out of a capsule at nearly 130,000 feet, breaking the speed of sound on his descent. That same day one of Baumgartner's advisers, Yeager, center, strapped into an F-15D to commemorate the 65th anniversary of his supersonic flight. He chats with Capt. David Vincent, right, and Senior Airman Anthony Ewing before his re-enactment flight at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

Capt. David Vincent and Yeager perform a fly-by on Oct. 14, 2012, during their F-15D re-enactment of Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier 65 years ago.

Vincent, right, congratulates Yeager following their re-enactment flight.

Fans move in to have a photo taken next to the car carrying The General — as he prefers to be called —Chuck Yeager, during the Memorial Day Parade on May 28, 2012, in Washington.

Yeager, a veteran ace pilot of World War II and famed Air Force test pilot, rides along as the Grand Marshall for the 2012 Memorial Day Parade.

Yeager's story is chronicled in 'The Right Stuff' by Tom Wolfe and the movie of the same name. Sam Shepard stars as Chuck Yeager, wearing a singed flight suit and helmet in a scene showing burning wreckage in the background.

The General, right, poses with Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager in a behind-the-scenes image with Glamorous Glennis during the filming of 'The Right Stuff.' Yeager's plane was named after his first wife, who died in 1990.

Check out the fancy headgear on test pilot Chuck Yeager in this Air Force image from June 1948. Yeager blames some of his current hearing loss on flying planes with a leather helmet.

The General, at 79, recognizes the crowd as he steps out of his F-15 Eagle on Oct. 26, 2002, after breaking the sound barrier in the skies above Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for what he said was the last time, more than a half-century after he became the first person to accomplish the feat. Yeager split the air with a sonic boom as he opened an air show that drew thousands of fans to the desert base. Yeager took an F-15 Eagle to just over 30,000 feet, capping a 60-year career.

At age 74, Yeager flies an F-15 during a re-enactment commemorating the 50th anniversary of his historic speed barrier-breaking flight in this televised chase plane view over Edwards Air Force Base on Oct. 14, 1997.

The General hugs Bob Hoover, right, on Oct. 14, 1997, after flying in a F-15D jet for his 50th anniversary of supersonic flight. Hoover flew in a chase plane on the original flight as well as the 50th anniversary.